Coalition Wants Reform Within CFD To Address Lack Of Black Firefighters

When it comes to its racial makeup, the Chicago Fire Department’s ranks don’t come close to reflecting the city’s Black population, which stands at about 29%. And if the current hiring trends within the department continue, those numbers within the CFD’s sworn ranks will only rapidly diminish.That’s why a coalition of Black Firefighters and city officials gathered to call for complete reform of the CFD’s hiring practices, which have disadvantaged candidates of color for generations.“The thought that you would take the test, the thought that you will go through all of these changes to become a firefighter, and then still have obstacles in the way. We’re not gonna even talk about the last testing where there were 49 candidates, and only three of them looked like us. That is a problem with a broken system,” said Ald. Jeanette Taylor, one of the city alderpersons at the Black Fire Coalition Media Breakfast.In a show of support, Moore and fellow Alds. Pat Dowell, Jeanette Taylor, David Moore, Lamont Robinson and Ronnie Mosley joined members of the Black Fire Coalition at Bronzeville’s Parkway Social to expose the generations-old discriminatory hiring practices within the CFD.The Chicago Fire Department was required to abide by a...